Inflammatio
by DanerysTargaryenStormborn
Summary: It was only supposed to be a quick hunt. A simple 'salt and burn', only... it turned out to be so much more.
1. Chapter 1

It was only supposed to be another hunt for the two Winchesters. A quick salt and burn. Except that wasn't what it turned out being...

"Sammy! Hurry up!" the older of the Winchester brother's, Dean, yelled as he and his brother Sam ran from the spirit intent on getting it's revenge.

He could feel his lungs beginning to seize as the increased effort he put into his sprint caught up with him. Sammy was right behind him, panting and wheezing, with their father's journal clutched tightly in his hands. The spirit was gaining on them as they rounded a corner but the next time Dean looked it was gone. Not wanting to be caught by surprise the older Winchester slowed his sprint to a job while his younger brother did the same.

"Dean! Over there" Sam yelled, Dean's gaze following his brother's to a small church.

Without hesitation Dean made his way over to the small dilapidated building. He knew the hallowed ground wouldn't stop the spirit from exacting it's vengeance but he did know that it would give them time to figure out what exactly was going wrong. This hunt was supposed to be simple. It wasn't supposed to be going this badly. The bones weren't were they were supposed to be. Hell, the entire topography of the place was off. It didn't make sense and was definitely throwing the brothers off.

"What the hell is going on here Sam? We have the spirit and the haunting but where the hell is everything else?" Dean exclaimed once they were safely hidden behind the walls of the abandoned church. "I thought you researched all this shit?"

Beside him Sam was still gasping for air, his hands on his knees as he doubled over. "I did Dean. You know I did. I don't know what's going on. The bones should have been there."

Dean growled to himself as he paced the pews of the church. This shouldn't be happening. Not with the amount of research they had done before even coming out here. Quickly reigning in the hurricane of thoughts running through his head, Dean went through a mental checklist of what exactly came next. Obviously more research, a more thorough search of the grounds, even more research. Absolutely nothing the interested him. Sammy was the one to do all the research. Dean himself really only liked taking care of the demons and monsters. Therefore the only logical thing to do was to have Sam do research while he milled around the local bars asking whatever questions he could.

"Sam go look at more maps or whatever it is you do when you have to do that research thing" Dean stated firmly, leaving no room for question. "I'm gonna go question the, uh, locals."

He couldn't help the smirk on his lips as he finished speaking. Sam was giving him his best bitch face and, although it shouldn't, it really amused Dean. He knew Sam wouldn't argue. Sam knew that if he didn't do the research it wouldn't get done. Dean simply wasn't the kind of guy to sit and read through books that may or may not prove to be useful. So with a low 'jerk' Sam made his way out of the church.

"Bitch" Dean chuckled as he shook his head and followed his little brother's footsteps.

The small town of Sandpoint, Idaho was exactly that, small. The town only had a population of 8,370 people and hardly any significant local history. Well, nothing that pertained to the case at hand. Which was the main reason Dean figured he'd merely have a few and talk to the locals to see if he could dig anything up. Well, mainly he just wanted to knock back a few before returning to the hotel he and Sam were staying at until the case finished. Hopefully Sam would figure out where this vengeful spirit's remains were so they could salt and burn them, successfully wrapping up this case.

"What're you having handsome?" a busty blonde inquired, a flirty smile on her lips as she pushed her bust out even more, as Dean placed himself in a chair at the bar.

"Just a beer and you're name" he replied, flirting back with the younger girl, a smirk making it's way to his lips. "When do you get off sugar?"

The girl batted her eyes at him, walking away from him to get his much needed drink. Once she was out of sight Dean breathed a sigh of relief and let his eyes roam around the poorly lit bar. There were few patrons scattered around, some drinking their beers in silence and others flirting with the barely legal bar maids. One patron, however, did catch his attention. She sat in a far corner of the bar, her hands clasped tightly her full beer bottle. Her eyes darted around the room quickly, almost as if she was taking in every face and every detail quickly and saving it to memory.

When her oddly colored eyes met his green ones he wasn't sure if he should look away or keep up the staring contest. His mind, though, was made up when the girl tore her eyes away from his and resumed their circuit of the room. With a shake of his head he began glancing around again, his eyes stopping on the girl was currently handing him his beer with a large smile.

"Thanks sweetheart" he smirked back, noting the way her hand brushed against his before placing a napkin, with her number and what time she got off work scribbled on it, on the table in front of him.

Wordlessly she walked away, an extra sway to her hips that made majority of Dean's blood rush south. It had been quite awhile since he had had the opportunity to do the horizontal tango and he contributed that fact to how easily he was becoming aroused. Yet, when his gaze returned to the place in front of him, rather than the tantalizing bottom of the waitress, he found himself staring at the same oddly colored eyes as early. Except instead of being across the room like before she was seated directly in front of him, an all knowing smirk on her lips.

"You could do so much better than that" she drawled, her arms crossing against her chest as she continued to stare Dean down.

"Do you see any better in this bar?" Dean asked haughtily, not willing to recognize that a girl ten times more attractive than the waitress was sitting in front of him. "Dean Winchester. You?"

"Lilith" the girl spoke calmly, not alluding to the pain that was evident in her eyes at being told she wasn't good enough. "Mom and dad had a strange obsession with the occult."

At her words Dean was taken aback. His instincts were telling him to run. That this chance meeting was a trap meant to send him back to the purgatory he was freed from nearly a year before. That somehow Lilith had come back to exact revenge on him and Sammy. But the more logical side of him was telling him that Lilith was dead and had been for a year now. That Sammy had somehow exorcised her and killed her with his freak powers. It was that side that made him stay still and smirk at the girl in front of him.

"Mother of demons. Interesting. What brings you here?" he asked, his interest piqued.

"You're a hunter right?" she asked matter of factly. When Dean slowly nodded his head she sighed heavily and looked almost relieved. "Good. I need your help."


	2. Chapter 2

"How, in the hell, did you know I was a hunter?" Dean asked, his surprise seeping into his words as he continued to stare her down. There was something incredibly fishy about this mysterious girl. She wasn't a hunter, that much was obvious. She looked too clean. There weren't any visible scars, nor was there any sign of the wear and tear that accompanied being a hunter. "And why do you need my help?"

"I follow the circuits" she replied flippantly, a wave of her hand brushing away the matter. She wasn't even sure how she knew who he was, or rather what he was; there was simply a voice inside her head that was forcing her to ask this stranger the things that were flowing from her mouth. "Will you help me or not?"

Dean was skeptical. The more he sat there looking at the girl, her pale blue eyes boring into his green eyes, the more he thought how bizarre this whole situation was. He was already on a hunt. He had Sammy with him. This could definitely back fire and turn out to actually be a trap. Obviously nothing good could come from this. Yet the longer he stared into those eyes, the more he believed that she really needed his help. Her entire being was practically screaming for help. From the hard crease in the middle of her eyebrows, her slightly enlarged pupils, even the small pout on her lips. He knew no matter what the outcome, with the way she was currently looking at him, he was doomed from the start.

"I'm already on a hunt at the moment" he answered stiffly, not wanting to give in too easily. "But I'm sure I can talk my brother into diving straight into another one once we finish this one up."

Lilith sighed as she listened to his answer. It wasn't exactly what she was hoping for. For some reason she had just expected him to drop what he was doing and help her. He seemed like the type. Hell, she had even heard multiple stories about him doing that exact thing. However, he seemed very reluctant to even help her at all. Almost as if he didn't trust her.

"Look, if you don't want to help just say so. Don't beat around the bush" she bit out, her voice scaring her as well as the man who sat in front of her. "For some reason I've got demons trying to kill me and I don't exactly understand why. I thought you of all people could possibly help me keep them away, but if you don't want to don't waste my time. I'll find someone else."

Before either of them really processed what had just happened Lilith was out of the chair and storming off. She couldn't exactly explain the rage and utter disappointment that was currently coursing through her. In all honestly she shouldn't be surprised. She was a complete stranger who just magically claimed to know a very personal fact about another person.

Back inside the bar Dean was still running through the conversation he had just had with this mysterious girl. Her mood and temperament changed so drastically and in such a short amount of time. He hadn't even realized how serious she was until she exploded and left. Whatever was going on with her was suddenly more important than a simple haunting. And Sammy would definitely agree, he was a bleeding heart. Yet he was just so nervous about accepting this girl's request for help.

Swallowing the large lump that had formed in his throat, Dean got up from his seat and placed a twenty dollar bill on the table and headed outside to find Lilith. Immediately not seeing her in the practically deserted parking lot, he began to panic and quicken his pace. For some unknown reason he was extremely worried about her. She had said something about demons trying to kill her but he hadn't taken her seriously then. Now, though, it sounded like a very probable thing. Especially with how fast she had seemed to disappear.

A scream a few away from him pulled him out of his thoughts and he hurried to where it seemed to have come from. There were five enormous men all huddled around the girl from the bar. She was visibly shaking while looking around at the faces of the men with her own terrified expression. The men were talking in deep hushed voices yet it seemed Lilith knew exactly what they were saying to her.

"It's not nice picking on a poor defenseless girl in the middle of the night" Dean rasped, a confident smirk fixed on his lips as the five men turned to look at him.

Behind them Lilith looked up, relief etched all over her face, and sighed heavily. However, the relief was quickly erased from her face as another man emerged from the shadows and grabbed her. A scream ripped it's way out of her throat as she peered into pitch black eyes.

"You really thought you could hide, didn't you?" the voice asked, a sick smirk set on his lips as he tried to pull her struggling form away from the others.

Dean didn't notice the absence of the other girl until the five men surrounding him fell to the ground unconscious. With a quick confused glance around the area, his mind swiftly switched back to 'panic mode'. Once again the girl from the bar had managed to disappear out of thin air. Though, yet again, he heard her desperate cries for help which were quickly followed by the harsh sound of flesh hitting flesh.

He could hear her whimpers and pleads as he neared where she was but suddenly they stopped all together. When he finally managed to find her, he was shocked by what he saw. Lilith was standing in front of him, her shirt splattered with blood and what looked to be a pipe in her hand, with the man who had dragged her away laid out in front of her. A look of pure terror was etched onto her face as the pipe fell from her hands, emanating a loud clang that resonated around the small side alley.

"Do you believe me now?" she whispered, her breathing ragged. She was beyond terrified. She had single handedly either knocked out or killed someone. But that wasn't the scariest thing. The scariest thing was the enormous cloud of black smoke that erupted from his mouth as he fell to the ground. "Please, help me."


End file.
